Inter-faith

Fear and Hate

For those of you who don’t know an organization called the Clarion Fund (see TPM for more on this group) sponsored the release of a virulently anti-Muslim and borderline anti-Semitic DVD in five swing states (see Haroon’s blog for more on this. He’s really been doing the Yeoman’s work here.) When I was asked about this DVD a couple of weeks ago, I joked that it was going to be released in German as Untermenschen, because it is clearly the inheritor of Goebbel’s vision. Little did I realize how prophetic I was. A mosque was attacked in Dayton, Ohio, one…

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Inter-faith

Nationalism is not anti-Semitism

The New York Times savages “An Icon of Evil,” which equates Muslims with Nazis because of a meeting between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem with Hitler. Turns out Yitzhak Shamir met with the Nazis in Jerusalem as well. Was he too supporting the Nazis? Or were they both interesting in allying themselves with anti-British forces as a nationalist concern? What about SC Bose of the Indian National Army who also met with the Nazis during WWII. Are Indians Nazi-sympathizers now? I’m not sure using the strategies of the Nazis, to create a new class of untermensch, is really a way…

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Inter-faith

Religious Common Cause

The New York Times has a good article on how Muslims in France are turning to Roman Catholics to fill the educational needs of girls, who are prohibited from entering the public school system if they wear a head scarf. Here is a quote from an employee at a Catholic school explaining that Roman Catholics are more tolerant than secularists: Mr. Chamoux, a slow-moving, jovial man, has been here 20 years and seems to know each student by name. Under a crucifix in his cramped office, he extolled the virtues of Catholic schools. “We practice religious freedom; the public schools…

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Inter-faith Intra-faith

Nobody likes Jews or Muslims [Updated]

Isn’t that reason enough for us to get along? New poll says anti-semitism and islamophobia on the rise. Other interesting tidbits from the poll: Muslims are worried about Muslim extremism. We don’t like it either. Why don’t people understand that? The Muslims most worried about Islamic extremism are countries that are dealing with … Islamic extremism and a growing OBL fan club. Finally, look at the poll. Muslims don’t approve of suicide bombing. [Update]: The complete report can be found here.

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Inter-faith

Black Jews

I’m sure everyone has heard of them. Just like black Muslims. They are newsworthy because they are not what you expect. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I think it’s interesting that this is in the news now. Growing up in NY everyone knew there were black Jews. Big deal. Judaism

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Inter-faith Religion

Muslims on Subways

I’m looking forward to seeing these ads, and will hopefully photo blog them when they come out. I’m more curious as to what the website will say. I’m not going to look until the campaign begins. I have to say I’m actually impressed by CNN’s coverage of this “controversy” highlighting that there seems to be a bit of rabble rousing going on here. NYC, subway

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Inter-faith Shi'ism

Moses At Sinai

The following quote is a commentary on the nature of God by a major Shi’ah thinker, Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (AS), who is also considered an important mystical figure. Moses (AS) is a major figure in the Muslim tradition, and symbolically is used to reference legalism and law. His interaction with the Divine helps to establish our understanding of God. As far as we can tell, the first major development of the concept of divine speech was the work of the sixth imam of the Shi`ah, Ja`far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765). Respected for his piety and wisdom by all Islamic sects, Ja`far…

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